COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) - Two prominent supporters of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign in South Carolina called state Democratic Party officials urging them to oppose putting comedian Stephen Colbert's name on the primary ballot, according to party officials and Obama supporters with knowledge of the calls. Full Story

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A year from Election Day, Clinton remains person to beat

WASHINGTON (CNN) - With the election of the next president a year away, Sen. Hillary Clinton remains the person to beat, a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Monday suggests. Full Story

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Poll: Most oppose waterboarding

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Although President Bush's nominee for attorney general refused to say whether waterboarding is a form of torture, most Americans do have an opinion about the procedure, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll.

In waterboarding, interrogators produce the sensation of drowning by dunking the prisoner in water or pouring water over the face. According to the poll, 69 percent of people consider the procedure torture, and 58 percent oppose it as a way to get information from suspected terrorists.

Judge Michael Mukasey said in a hearing last week that he couldn't make a legal judgment on the procedure and that "hypotheticals are different from real life." His response caused backlash from Democrats.

The Senate Judiciary Committee meets Tuesday to vote on his nomination.

- CNN Associate Producer Lauren Kornreich

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Record campaign spending in Pennsylvania high court race

(CNN) — He's a self-described "regular guy from a very humble background," talking up a crowd of Democrats in a Somerset County, Pa., ward meeting, just days before Tuesday's hotly contested election race. Seamus McCaffery wants their votes, and he has the political and people skills to get it done, along with healthy infusion of campaign cash.

He tells them he is an Irish immigrant, and former Philadelphia beat cop. The bald, burly candidate has a ready smile and he swaps stories with the crowd.

The post McCaffery seeks is on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the nation's oldest appellate body. The idea of judges running for elected office may seem like a strange and unseemly concept, but it is the law in 21 states that have some sort of contested system for top judges. Thirty states — along with the federal system — appoint their judges, often with a merit selection system in which the governor gets the final say. Full Story

– CNN Senior Producer Bill Mears

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The Best Political Team wants you

CNN is looking for an associate political editor with strong editing and reporting skills to help the network cover the historic 2008 elections. Primary responsibilities will be to edit and write for the CNN Political Ticker, as well as serve as an off-air reporter. Previous television experience is not required, but strong newswriting ability and experience covering politics are a must. Political Ticker

===========================================================Political Hot Topics(Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country)

Compiled by Lindsey Pope
CNN Washington Bureau

USA Today: Political Storms: Katrina Helps Tilt Miss. Race
Voters in off-year elections Tuesday decide whether to keep Republican governors in Mississippi and Kentucky, elect four big-city mayors and consider ballot issues including a Utah proposal to pay state tuition aid for students in private schools.

New York Times: In Iowa Field, Edwards Sees Only Senator Clinton
Seldom do presidential hopefuls suggest the time for a revolution is dawning, but John Edwards is exhibiting a fresh ferocity in his second run at the White House. With 59 days until Iowa opens the nominating contest, Edwards is intensifying his criticism of Democrats, Republicans and a government he calls corrupt.

Washington Post: Climate Is a Risky Issue for Democrats
All of the leading Democratic contenders for the presidency are committed to a set of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions that would change the way Americans light their homes, fuel their automobiles and do their jobs, costing billions of dollars in the short term but potentially, the candidates say, saving even more in the decades to follow.

New York Times: Romney Gets Major Backer on the Right
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign announced yesterday an endorsement from the man whom some consider the father of the religious right, Paul M. Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation and a founder of the Moral Majority.

AP: Giuliani Praises Kerik's Crime Results
Rudy Giuliani said Monday that if his achievements as president are as good as the crime-reduction results of his New York police commissioner, a man now under criminal investigation himself, "this country will be in great shape."

The State: Giuliani A Surprise Hit In S.C.
But with less than three months to go before South Carolina’s Republican primary, fresh polling shows Giuliani is in a statistical tie for first place with fellow GOP front-runners, former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Washington Post: Bush Vote Divided in GOP Race
George P. Bush had just finished telling his father, the former governor of Florida, that he had decided to endorse former senator Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee for president. Jeb Bush assured his eldest son that all the Republican candidates are "great" and that whatever he did would be okay with him and the family.

Quad City Times: NH Independents Moving to Democrats
"Undeclareds," as independents are called in New Hampshire, are congregating around the Democratic race. Four out of 10 say they plan to vote in the Democratic primary, and about the same number say they aren't sure which ballot they will pick up on primary day.

Roll Call: DCCC: SCHIP Hurts GOP
In another sign that House Democrats view the SCHIP stalemate as beneficial to their 2008 political fortunes, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) told his colleagues on Monday that DCCC polling proves the issue is weakening the re-election prospects of incumbent Republicans.

LA Times' Top of the Ticket: Ex-POW Mccain Denounces Torture As U.S. Policy
Judge Michael Mukasey seems to be well along the path to Senate confirmation as attorney general despite his refusal to declare waterboarding a form of torture…But, campaigning in Iowa today, former POW John McCain says he intends to continue talking about the procedure, which involves placing a prisoner on his back, head down on an inverted board, covering his face with a wet towel and pouring water on him.

New York Times: A Vote for Justice by Charles SchumerI am voting today to support Michael B. Mukasey for attorney general for one critical reason: the Department of Justice — once the crown jewel among our government institutions — is a shambles and is in desperate need of a strong leader, committed to depoliticizing the agency’s operations.

Roll Call: Contempt Citations Still Pending
As Senate Democrats today prepare to take up the controversial nomination of Michael Mukasey for attorney general, House Democrats are moving forward with their efforts to pass a contempt resolution in the U.S. attorney firings probe that Mukasey would be charged with enforcing.

* New York Sen. Hillary Clinton will deliver a policy address at the Renewable Energy Group in Newton, Iowa and then attend an "Organizing for Change" event at the Festhalle Barn in the Amana Colonies in Amana, Iowa.

* Arizona Sen. John McCain will deliver remarks at the Renewable Energy Group in Ames, Iowa. The Republican candidate will hold a meet and greet event at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Boone and then head to Decorah for a town hall event and press availability at the Luther College's Center for Faith and Life Recital Hall. McCain will also take additional questions from reporters at Landmark Aviation in Cedar Rapids.

* Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards will hold town hall events in Newmarket, Portsmouth and Durham, New Hampshire.

* Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will tour the Carolina Hope Adoption Agency and take questions from the press in Greenville, South Carolina to start the day. Afterwards, Romney will make a campaign stop at the Main Street Deli nearby the local Chili festival in Anderson.

* Illinois Sen. Barack Obama will hold a town hall meeting at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

* Former Sen. Fred Thompson will hold an event in Columbia, South Carolina to announce his campaign's "Vets for Fred" coalition. The Republican candidate will then hold "Meet Fred Thompson" campaign events - one at Beef O'Brady's in Fort Mill and the other at the Beacon Drive-in in Spartanburg.

* Delaware Sen. Joe Biden continues his campaign swing through Iowa with a tour at the Alcoa aluminum plant used to make MRAP vehicles located in Riverdale and then wraps up the day with a meet and greet event at The Chef's Hat in Davenport.

* Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd will participate in a discussion on the rule of law in U.S. national security and foreign policy. The event will be hosted by the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council in Iowa City, Iowa.

soundoff(14 Responses)

Let me tell you something. That was not PETA because that is not how they answer you when you send the petitions. Now when I think back that was not Ingrid Newkirk because they aren't in Washington and they don't send personal letters. We already belong to PETA and contribute as well as the ASPCA and HSUS. Futhermore we did help the animals in Katrina, not the people. I don't care about people, well there are a few exceptions. I don't know what is wrong with you. I have never heard of the nonsense that you are pulling. I am very angry at you and I don't trust you or anyone else around here anymore. Stay out of my life and stay out of my computer. You have caused me nothing but anger since I have been here and I hate you. I will vote for who I want and it sure won't be Hillary.

I just want to say two things. In awhile I have to go out and vote for the Dems. Second, I don't hate you, but I really don't like that Alinsky with his terrible ways to upset people and I don't know why you would even get involved with a person like that when there are better people to follow that don't upset people. I know you are around, but you keep starting your aggressive behavior and trying to anger me. I am going about my business and all of a sudden you start up. I really wish you would stop that.

I read all these stories you write. I am not an idiot and can read between the lines. You are assuming that you know about me, but you really don't. You only know what I was willing to tell you. So be my guest and write what you "assume" because that is all it is , an assumption. I would NEVER tell you anything again because I find it really incompetent to post it constantly. I do notice that you never post anything about others which could be potentially damaging.

I would appreciate it if you would please remove all of this by the morning, then we will start off on the right foot. This feuding has got to stop. If you want to be the boss then so be it. I have no problem with that.

I would just like to say one thing. If you don't want me to stay here that is fine. But, I just want you to know that I will NEVER see another Dr. as long as I live. They have done nothing for me, nor have all those different hosps. They just wasted 11-1/2yrs. of my life. I swear to God, I will never. Also, when I win the lottery, I will take my half and leave(with my animals) and I will find the right man because I can't be by myself. Whatever is making me like this I'm not worried because I have had it all my life and I am still alive, but I don't think that I hate anyone, some people I just don't like. Truthfully, I don't know if I am angry or frustrated.

Excuse me but I seem to think that you are a psychoanalyst because of that joke on the ticker last night. I now know why we are fighting so much. Well, it's because I don't agree with Freud being that Dr. Fields was one and we didn't get along four years. Freudians like to sit around and wait for others to talk first and if others have nothing to say than you just sit there and stare at each other, 45min...3times a week...just stare at each other... but, I must admit he was very good looking.

And one more thing before I go out. Joel's office was in Mammaroneck so why would you refer to his home in Larchmont. Something is not right here at all and this is foul play. This is starting to frighten me so PLEASE stop because I don't know who you are.